Key Series

Facebook and Google have positioned themselves to obtain the rights to broadcast international cricket matches in India, which are to be awarded on Tuesday, according to several local media.

The auctions conducted by the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) focus on the allocation of rights between 2018-2023. The two behemoths are not alone on the starting line. In particular, they will have to compete with the two current broadcasters, Star India and Sony Pictures Network India, as well as the YuppTV streaming service.

This is the first time that Google ventures into the sports rights sector in India. Facebook, which remains at the heart of several polemics, had already tried to get in September the broadcast rights of matches of the Indian championship, but had failed against Star India.

The allocation of broadcast rights for international matches is divided into several prizes, which include various geographical areas, in India and abroad, and media, television and digital. Facebook and Google would be well placed to obtain these digital rights, according to several Indian newspapers.

Steve Smith and David Warner, captain and vice-captain of the Australian cricket team, have been suspended for one year for their role in the scandal of the match against South Africa in Cape Town. Smith acknowledged that during the same cheated, using a tape to scrape the ball and change its trajectory, after television cameras were caught his teammate Cameron Bancroft, also sanctioned with nine months. The three players have already been sent home from the concentration in South African lands.

All three may participate in club competitions, but not in international tournaments with their selection during the duration of their sanctions. The premeditated trap they used against South Africa has shaken the world of cricket not only in Australia.

"David Warner will not occupy relevant positions in the future," said the Australian cricket team. While Smith and Bancroft must wait two years to do it again, and "even then it will depend on acceptance by the fans," he added. In addition, each of them must complete one hundred hours of community services before being eligible again.

Smith and Bancroft have been found guilty of knowing the cheating plan, but according to the Australian Federation's investigations, Warner would have been the instigator.

"The Federation understands the anger of the fans and the Australian community about these events as they go against the integrity and reputation of Australian cricket and sport and the sanctions must reflect that," said David Peever, president of the association.

"They are significant penalties for professional players and this body has not imposed them lightly. We hope that after the suspension period players will be able to play the sport they love again and rebuild their careers" he said.

Australian squad captain Steve Smith, vice-president David Warner and player Cameron Bancroft, have been sent home from South Africa as a result of their involvement in the team's attempt to cheat on Saturday, during a test game against South Africa Series, the most prestigious game formula for sport. So they will not play in the next match between the two national teams - the tournament is made of different matches - which will start on Friday in Johannesburg. Smith will be replaced by the player Tim Paine in the role of captain.

In short, the scandal in which the three players are involved concerned the attempt to secretly tamper the ball with which they were disputing the game against South Africa. This attempted tampering was taken by the cameras and that's why the managers had to admit it.

For now, Smith, Warner and Bancroft have not been suspended or driven out by the national cricket team, but it is not excluded that in the next there may be serious repercussions on their career for this scandal. Australia coach, Darren Lehmann, who according to Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland had nothing to do with trying to cheat, will not leave his place.

A piece of tape and a whole sport is shaken. In Australia, where cricket is king, the captain of the Australian team is caught in a cheating scandal. The reason? This piece of ribbon, to change its trajectory.

In the Commonwealth, cricket is king. The sport of bat attracts more than one billion and a half of followers, around the world and in particular in Australia, India, South Africa... No wonder that when a scandal explodes in this sport of bat, it shakes a whole country.

That's what is happening right now in Australia, where one of the newspapers is focused on cheating on his national team captain, Steve Smith. Sunday, during a test match against South Africa, the most prestigious format, over five days, he admitted to cheating while trying to destabilize the trajectory of the ball, with tape, with the complicity of his teammate Cameron Bancroft. Except that the subterfuge was caught by the cameras before the latter tries to hide the action by hiding the adhesive in his pants.

A national tragedy for Australians, which even pushed Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to intervene. He evokes a bitter disappointment. It completely defies understanding that the Australian cricket team is involved in cheating. In the eyes of Australians, the captaincy of the national cricket team as prestigious as his prime minister. Seeing such a maneuver at the head of the national team, especially in a sport of "Gentlemen" is a source of disappointment, far from the Australian mind.

The Australian press has seized the case, claiming the shame of such a case, henceforth nicknamed "SandPaperGate". Even the old legends of cricket are indignant. They are nearly 450 to have worn the green cap of the team, which is considered an honor. Former pitcher Rodney Hogg lamented on Twitter: "Unfortunately, it's pure cheating and Steve Smith has to resign from his position."

Jamie Fuller, chief executive of Skins, sportswear manufacturer, "Cricket Australia (CA), the governing body of sport, must show good governance in the face of scandal. If they do not, there will not be only the national team that will be shamed. It will be you all. It will be cricket. It will be us all."

For the moment, Smith has been given a suspension match by the International Cricket Council. But the case should keep talking.

Especially since sport is extremely popular in Commonwealth countries. Thus, for example, in 2017, the Anglo-Welsh Cricket Federation, gave up the rights of the competition of its national team for nearly 1.25 billion euros.